Candy-cane kids win in court

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (Reuters) - Students have free-speech rights to hand out candy canes that have prayers attached to them at school, a federal judge has ruled.

In the latest chapter in America's long debate over the separation of church and state, U.S. District Judge Frank Freedman ruled that Massachusetts school officials violated the rights of a group of students by disciplining them for distributing the striped Christmas candy.

The students, members of a Bible club at Westfield High School in western Massachusetts, were told they could distribute the candy canes with a "Happy Holidays" message, but were forbidden to attach a message containing a prayer.

In a ruling issued on Monday and made public on Tuesday, Freedman said the one-day suspensions given to the students violated their First Amendment rights to free speech, and he entered a preliminary injunction barring the school from punishing them or enforcing similar speech restrictions against them.

The judge said while school-sponsored religious speech is forbidden by the Constitution, student religious speech is constitutionally protected.

Freedman also rejected the school's claim that the religious messages could be barred because they might be offensive to non-Christian students.

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Originally posted by webmaster: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> The judge said while school-sponsored religious speech is forbidden by the Constitution, student religious speech is constitutionally protected.

Freedman also rejected the school's claim that the religious messages could be barred because they might be offensive to non-Christian students.

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</font>[/QUOTE]Excellent decision! (Of course this decision should be no surprise. Seperation of church and state is not about keeping people from being offended.)

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